Wherein Cheney gives Michael O'Hanlon & Ken Pollack the Judy Miller treatment

Think back to September 2002: the White House was cranking up the Mighty Wurlitzer, trying to pressure the US Congress to authorize the invasion of Iraq. Stories were planted, Condis were given their Sunday-morning-catwalk orders...and then there was Cheney.

Among the many lies uttered on the Sunday, September 8, 2002 edition of Meet the Press, this was a particularly blazen Royale-with-cheese:

MR. RUSSERT: Aluminum tubes.
VICE PRES. CHENEY: Specifically aluminum tubes. There’s a story in The New York Times this morning-this is-I don’t-and I want to attribute The Times. I don’t want to talk about, obviously, specific intelligence sources, but it’s now public that, in fact, he has been seeking to acquire, and we have been able to intercept and prevent him from acquiring through this particular channel, the kinds of tubes that are necessary to build a centrifuge. And the centrifuge is required to take low-grade uranium and enhance it into highly enriched uranium, which is what you have to have in order to build a bomb. This is a technology he was working on back, say, before the Gulf War. And one of the reasons it’s of concern, Tim, is, you know, we know about a particular shipment. We’ve intercepted that. We don’t know what else-what other avenues he may be taking out there, what he may have already acquired. We do know he’s had four years without any inspections at all in Iraq to develop that capability.

Remember that? Yeah. That "story in the New York Times," that dastardly bastion of Commy journamalism, was penned by Judith Miller* ("U.S. Says Hussein Intensifies Quest for A-Bomb Parts" By Michael R. Gordon and Judith Miller, NY Times, Sept 8, 2002)

We all know what happened from there.

The big questions of the evening: do Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack know a good lawyer? Have they seen the aspens turn? I sure hope so, 'cause Dick Cheney done Judy'd them good tonight.

Here's Cheney on Larry King tonight:

KING: Will those "results" [of the surge/escalation in Iraq] be put in place in '09 when you leave?
CHENEY: I believe so....I think we're seeing already, from others, don't take it from me, look at a piece that appeared yesterday in the New York Times---not exactly a friendly publication---but a piece by Mr. O'Hanlon and Mr. Pollack on the situation in Iraq. They're just back from visiting over there, they both have been strong critics of the war both worked in the prior administration, but now saying that they think there's a possibility indeed that we can be successful....so we'll know a lot more in September when Gen. Petraeus and Amb. Crocker come back and report with the Congress and the President on the situation in Iraq and whether we're making progress.

Yeah, "don't take it from [him]"...take it from his liberal hawk friends, at least one of whom endorsed the invasion from the beginning (Ken Pollack, I'm lookin' at you!). Please. Pollack is just Tom Friedman with a better library card, IMHO: hand wringing about 'freedom's delicious, but they screwed it up!' is getting mighty old, my dears.

You can read the ridiculous "A War We Just Might Win" op-ed here, if you like.

I read it.

I do not like.

OTOH, can't wait to see Pollack in a really smart-bob & cat's eyes sunglasses.

*I realize Judy shared her by-line with the under-maligned Michael Gordon, but I just don't have any jokes about that feller. If you wannu pull every last hair outta yer head, watch/listen to Amy Goodman interview Gordon about his role in the NYT/WMD/Qaeda fiasco.

PS: The transcript of tonight's Larry King isn't "up" yet, so my version might have tpyos. Hey, you get what ya pay fer, eh?